Vince Fong won the California special election to replace Kevin McCarthy. Here’s his plan

Assemblyman Vince Fong understands that he’s taking over for nationally-recognized, powerful and controversial congressional Republicans who have represented California’s rural heart for 45 years.

How he fits into the legacy handed down by his former bosses is not top of mind for the Republican elected Tuesday to finish the last months of retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s congressional term.

First on his agenda is focusing on local and national issues related to securing the Southern Border, water infrastructure, small businesses and food and energy production.

“I’ll let history judge my legacy and my career,” Fong said in a telephone interview Wednesday morning. “I just hope that we’re able to tackle these issues.”

Fong, R-Bakersfield, beat Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux in Tuesday’s runoff election for retired Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s former district, the AP projected.

Fong, once McCarthy’s district director, will serve in the House of Representatives for about seven months — and possibly longer, depending on the outcome of November’s election for a two year term.

Over those seven months, Congress will deal with another federal budget fight to the Farm Bill, which updates agriculture and food policy about every five years, to continued battles on the border to military and humanitarian funding for overseas conflicts.

“We are living in a very chaotic time,” Fong said. “But that is also the time where someone can have the most impact.”

Fong, 44, the top Republican on the Assembly budget committee, spent the day he was elected to Congress at the California Capitol in Sacramento working on legislative matters until 6 p.m. PT, two hours before polls closed.

He’ll be working on his Assembly duties in Sacramento this week, he said, while details about his transition to Congress are ironed out.

Wednesday morning from Sacramento, Fong said that he was already talking to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and members of Congress “as we work on policies to introduce as we get to Congress, hopefully soon.”

Fong, jumping into Congress mid-session, doesn’t necessarily get to choose which House of Representatives committees he can join.

He mentioned that, at least in the future, an important one would be the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes important policy related to tax, trade and Social Security. He also cited Energy and Commerce would be important to California’s 20th Congressional District, home to California’s oil-and-gas hub Kern County.

He has a lot of Republicans before him from the San Joaquin Valley to look to. Fong follows in a legacy fueled by the Kern County political machine that has helped powerful GOP congressmen control the district for over four decades.

McCarthy, Fong’s former boss, chose and greatly boosted the Assemblyman to succeed him in California’s 20th; McCarthy left Congress in December after his October ousting as House Speaker.

Before McCarthy was their former boss, Rep. Bill Thomas, who once chaired Ways and Means. Tulare Rep. Devin Nunes also has influence in the region.

“They were tremendous individuals, tremendous leaders. And that’s quite a legacy,” Fong said. “I think, for me, my focus is doing the best I can to make sure that I represent the Central Valley and make sure that they have the most effective voice possible.”

Vince Fong taking over for Kevin McCarthy

In Sacramento, Fong has represented the area that’s now the 32nd Assembly District since 2016 and is the top Republican on the powerful budget committee, another experience that he said would help him tackle refocusing and reinvesting federal resources. He’ll resign his seat to serve in Congress.

Boudreaux, 57, will be on the ballot with Fong again in the Nov. 5 general election for a two-year term to begin in January 2025.

Whether Boudreaux will continue campaigning is unclear. In a concession statement last night, Boudreaux congratulated Fong and expressed hope for the region’s congressional representation but did not say that he intended to continue running through November. Rather, he pivoted to focus on in-state crime.

“California faces a crime crisis unlike any other in its history. That’s why I will be stepping up the fight for a safer Valley and safer California,” he said. “I look forward to providing updates on this effort in the coming weeks.”

A campaign sprint to succeed Kevin McCarthy

Fong had the support of McCarthy allies, donors and the ex-Speaker himself in the campaign sprint to the March primaries and May runoff.

Campaigns were forced into a three-month blitz ahead of the March primaries due to McCarthy’s abrupt resignation announcement two days before California’s electoral filing deadline.

A messy game of succession caused Fong to file to run for both the Assembly and Congress in December, shrouding his full-term congressional bid in a legal challenge by the state’s top election official. A California appeals court affirmed in April that Fong could be on the ballot for both in November.

California’s 20th is the state’s most heavily GOP congressional district, where 47% of registered voters are Republican and 27% are Democrats. It covers parts of Kern, Kings, Fresno and Tulare counties. Most of the voters in the 20th are in Kern County, where Fong and McCarthy’s home base is.

Mail-in ballots postmarked and sent on or before Election Day that are delivered by May 28 will be counted. California’s secretary of state must certify election results by or on June 28.

Fong can be sworn in far sooner than that deadline, even within a week, if Secretary of State Shirley Weber confirms there is a member-elect in a letter to the House Clerk that quickly to start the process. Whenever he’s sworn in, Fong will boost the GOP’s razor-thin House majority that has caused trouble when renegade Republicans break ranks.